The present invention relates to a fuel system and especially to a fuel system for internal combustion and turbine and other engines which saturates and diffuses a gas, such as air, into a liquid fuel.
In the past, a great variety of internal combustion engine fuel systems have been provided for use on internal combustion engines in vehicles. Typically, a hydrocarbon fueled engine might have a carburetor in which a liquid fuel is vaporized in a fixed or variable venturi as air from the atmosphere is fed through the venturi, drawing fuel vapor into the intake manifold and into the cylinders of the engine. Diesel engines more commonly provide a fuel injection system in which the fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber under high pressure and does not use a spark to ignite the charge being injected into the cylinder. Typically, air has already been drawn into the cylinder and compressed at the time the fuel is injected thereinto. It is more common today to provide a fuel injection system for more conventional spark ignition internal combustion engines which work at a lower combustion chamber pressure in order to improve the efficiency of the engine.
The present invention is directed primarily at combustion engines, including diesel, turbine and spark ignited engines, which have fuel injection systems and provides for the saturation and diffusion of the liquid hydrocarbon fuel with oxygen or air under pressure through a fuel saturator and a fuel diffuser connected in tandem. The fuel diffuser requires a dense but slightly porous stone or other material which forces a gas under pressure into the liquid fuel. It has been common in the past to saturate liquids with gases, such as carbon dioxide, to form soda water or to increase the gas content in malt drinks, such as beer. Saturated liquids, however, have to be maintained under pressure until just prior to use. The present invention first saturates the liquid fuel and then utilizes a stone similar to the one used by brewers but which has been enclosed in a casing in order to increase the diffusion of the saturated liquid fuel with a gas.
Other prior art type systems include the use of various systems for bubbling air through a liquid fuel in order to vaporize the fuel as well as a variety of other circuits directed primarily at vaporizing the fuel by the passing of a gas therethrough. These systems do no attempt to saturate the liquid with a gas but rather to vaporize the liquid in the air and are used primarily in carburetor type fuel systems. It has also been known to feed gases into a carburetor at the same time the hydrocarbon fuel is being vaporized therein and various fuel additives have been added to fuels to modify the fuel being fed to the fuel system. An advantage of the present invention is that the hydrocarbon liquid fuel can be saturated with a number of gases which can then be used on a fuel injection system without the individual injectors being broken by air or another gas getting into the fuel injectors. That is, most fuel injectors on internal combustion engines will not operate if air gets trapped in the injectors, so that gases cannot normally be fed with a fuel through a fuel injected system of an engine. The fuel system can also be used to treat bulk fuels, such as coal slurry, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This invention is an improvement over prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,423 to Knapstein, one of the present inventors. In this prior patent, an apparatus and a method of saturating liquid fuel with air, oxygen, or another gas is provided for injecting into an internal combustion engine. The internal combustion engine is provided with a gas compressor or pump for compressing air or oxygen, which is directed into a fuel diffuser having a dense, porous material or stone therein and having a liquid hydrocarbon fuel being fed therethrough. Compressed gas is fed onto one side of the stone and is forced therethrough for diffusion into the liquid fuel, which is then fed into a fuel injection system of an internal combustion engine.